CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 35 ORIGINAL SIN

A few days later.

Li Qing began to transform this three-bedroom, one-living room apartment, welding from the outside.

He laid down steel plates, covering the ceiling, floor, walls, and even sealed off the bathroom; after all, he didn’t live here. In short, it was all sealed.

It was thoroughly transformed into a sealed laboratory.

Fortunately, he was already non-human, his body incredibly strong, doing the work of an entire engineering team alone.

He carried steel plates in and out by himself.

Meanwhile, he noticed bizarre changes occurring inside over these few days.

The entire kingdom above the laboratory floor had started to rot.

They indulged in the carnival of a paradise soaking with wine and flesh.

After secretly receiving the Emperor’s approval, the leaders of the Humanity Association and the Holy Truth Sect jointly researched sensory stimulation in flesh and blood life, and applied them to the citizens.

They didn’t do good deeds.

Unlike the previous work to resist alcohol and ultraviolet rays by adding useful genetic structures, this time, they maliciously added various dopamine-secreting organ structures to the citizens:

Appetite!

Eating stimulates a dopamine secretion that brings excitement and pleasure, as addictive as poison.

Almost all creatures have a feedback response to eating, and it’s easy to replicate.

But, of course, they wouldn’t just simply replicate it.

They deliberately increased the stimulation, making it a hundred times more sensitive than normal organisms, causing their citizens to eat and feel like they’re taking aphrodisiacs, groaning at the dining table, bursting their shirts, faces flushed.

"Ah, it’s delicious!"

"Is this what taste is?"

"Thanks to the Empire’s wise ones for evolving taste for us!"

Thus, they began excessive gluttony, indulging in decadence.

— Gluttony emerged.

They maliciously added a second type of stimulation:

Possessiveness.

This is a survival instinct that most beastly lives have in the history of biological evolution.

Cats, dogs, tigers, and gorillas—almost all advanced animals protect food, desiring more food, driven by this biological instinct.

They wrote this bodily feedback into the citizens’ bodies so that whenever they seized others’ property or plundered others’ treasures, they would secrete a tax-evading, intense pleasure instantaneously, seducing them into perpetual indulgence.

— Greed emerged.

These "inferior sinful genes" that shouldn’t be written into the body were encoded within them.

At this moment, the ground was like Eden; the Seven Sins began to be born.

"This is great!"

"Please give me that as well! Let me eat with even more excitement!"

"Yes, add it even stronger for me."

Countless citizens began to cheer, completely oblivious to their impending doom, thinking that the engineers had found exciting daily activities to entertain their otherwise dull and boring lives.

Drinking and feasting, excessive gluttony, but gradually, some people became irritable, some envious, and others recklessly vented their pleasure, enjoying the gratification of killing and competition.

The entire kingdom became a Beast Fighting Arena.

Everyone was competing.

Like mechas controlled from both sides fighting, after killing the opponent’s exoskeleton, they’d trample it underfoot, listening to the surrounding cheers and applause.

On the streets, in the cities, across the wilderness, in the oceans, countless exoskeletons battled furiously in unison.

Spiders, ants, mice, grasshoppers, cockroaches, octopuses, crabs—evolutionary creatures of various forms with exoskeletons killing each other, creating a frenzy, resembling the law of the jungle slaughter of the Original Era.

Finally.

This carnival lasted three days.

The strong soul waves, emotional upheavals, roars, jubilations, celebration—those mindless wandering souls, only able to possess cells, were exhausted, collapsed on this frantic party.

And after the revelry, Eden turned into a Fallen Paradise.

Amidst the fulfillment and joy, an unprecedented and incredulous emptiness enveloped the body.

"Everything is over."

A group of wise men, sages slowly appeared, began the final harvest, transforming themselves into integrated brains.

Click!

Suddenly, an engineer harvesting life was attacked.

"What are you doing?"

"Foolish, twenty thousand is the minimum value. If I have more, wouldn’t I be stronger? I want more wisdom!! To forge a stronger Holy Position!"

"Don’t you get it yet? I want to seize your brain! The wisdom of ordinary civilians is just so-so, but if I have your wisdom, I must be stronger!!"

The second slaughter began.

The initially planned twenty thousand reduced to just eight thousand people left standing on the whole ground, staring blankly at each other:

"We absorbed all the Atabians, were also influenced by their frenzied consciousness, began to kill uncontrollably, and fell into the realm of sin."

Silence for a moment.

All of them realized plainly: once a group of rebellious Atabians defying the Gods, prideful beyond measure, now, after this day, completely became history.

They vanished in the sin of the Fallen Paradise.

On the entire surface, the number of surviving people was less than ten thousand.

Click.

At this moment, the door of the solemn and majestic cathedral suddenly swung open.

The Pope walked out slowly and said to the slaughterers on the battlefield, "Come with me, pray to the Lord, confess to the Lord."

The Pope leisurely led them on the path to the church, his voice gentle and clear,

"No need to worry, God will not interfere with human choices. If there is regret in your heart, confess to the Light."

"Thank the Lord for His tolerance and great love." Instantly, the tension in their hearts eased a little, "This is the choice of us mortals on earth, and we have no other choice."

The Pope looked at them deeply and said:

"God said, this is the fate of the Age of Enlightenment!"

"God created humans with souls nearly pure and immaculate, possessing divinity. But now, humans, in order to survive, have let their bodies be stained with the Seven Deadly Sins in the Fallen Paradise, and demons will be born in human nature."

The voice poured into their ears.

As if forming an eternity at this moment.

In the hearts of these future celestial gods, they will forever remember the sound of this moment.

"Humans, by eating the Forbidden Fruit, after this day had the root of misfortune. The deeply ingrained Seven Sins of bad nature will bring disaster to each era of humanity."

They held their breath.

Soon they arrived in front of the church, entering one by one to pray.

The relief murals of the Holy Hall on both sides, magnificent and resplendent, gave a peaceful and warm atmosphere. A huge golden bell as the bronze bell hung on the magnificent bell tower in front of the church.

Dong!

The death knell echoed.

Like a divine murmur transmitted by vibration waves, it brought a feeling of the soul being stirred and cleansed, making people bow in worship, a sense of long-lasting epic and heritage condensed in this scene.

Inside the cathedral, Emperor Minis knelt down on the ground, his expression pious:

"Lord, I have sinned."

"The Lord created us, mostly pure souls, newborn holy white children, fell into the mortal world, gradually accumulating gluttony, greed, envy... these sins, staining with colors."

In front of the statue of the God, a fat white-scaled Holy Dragon lay obediently.

This emperor, who was kneeling in prayer, had a slightly confused look, repenting for his sins, unsure if it was right or wrong.

Because this was the best choice, since everyone would die, might as well let this group of wisest survive.

Emperor finished his prayer.

Crack.

The next person, the leader of the Humanity Association, entered.

"Lord, I have sinned."

He was equally pious; this was not hypocrisy, but a desire for reliance amidst confusion:

"If we could research a normal head that could accommodate wisdom a bit faster, then we wouldn’t all die, we wouldn’t have to choose that evil plan of the Holy Truth Sect."

"Our era has passed, the days when Atabia led all the innocent children to strive together are gone, we cannot be as united in the future."

"Mortals on earth have begun to have complete fractures, vigilance, schemes, lies."

"Prayer time is over, go down." The Holy Dragon, prostrating under the God statue, glanced at him and continued to prostrate.

After this one walked out.

"It’s your turn," said the leader of the Humanity Association.

"Hmm, I understand."

This is the core leader of the brutal ’Perfect Man Plan,’ the leader of the Holy Truth Sect, entered the church.

No one knew, he hid his true identity, after countless times of changing appearances, it was actually Herodotus—the leader of the rebels, the Imperial Hero, who entered the upper echelons and secretly instigated this great extinction.

He was the true mastermind behind the scenes.

With a weary figure, he pushed open the doors of the cathedral.

But at this moment, the radical leader of the Holy Truth Sect, who advocated for the "Perfect Man Plan," actually looked somewhat pitiful.

He carefully took out an exquisitely crafted nano-mural, depicting a young Emperor Atabia loudly proclaiming on the towering, magnificent Tower of Babel, while he, the Imperial General, stood guard behind him.

White towers, clear oceans, ancient and rugged original tribal architectural style, and a spirited general.

He stood there for a long time, memories surging in his heart like tidal waves, impacting this radical leader who created a sea of blood and corpses.

He recalled that day amidst the overwhelming flood, saying to Atabia:

"Your Majesty, I believe you can protect all the subjects of the Earth well! We have no help, perhaps we can only rely on ourselves, this is a destined lonely and perilous path, but we can definitely protect everyone."

Back then, his eyes were filled with blazing flames, as if they would never extinguish, making a knight’s vow:

"I will always be loyal to Your Majesty! As your sharpest blade, live and die with you!"

—Ha, tricked you.

The Imperial Hero, the Emperor’s most loyal confidant, Herodotus, in fact, was also a trickster, immensely despising Atabia.

Back then, he knew that Atabia was not truly a gentle and kind wise king.

He was just an annoying mad scientist, this truth-seeking maniac didn’t care about the people’s life and death, he only wanted to pursue the splendor above the Celestial Vault, that incredible world...

But still, he had to try and bind this genius to the imperial throne.

Because his talent was indispensable for the Atabians.

He truly loved every child, eager to protect every citizen, longing for true peace.

But at the final moment, the insane Emperor who didn’t truly love his people, refused the great extinction granted by the God before his death, did not follow the fate given by God, and instead continuously promoted Atabia as a puppet emperor, assisting him in research, secretly protecting the people, while now using the ’Perfect Man Plan’ to initiate this great extinction.

"Roles reversed, truly ironic." Reflecting on all this, for a moment he didn’t know what to say, unlike Emperor Atabia, he genuinely wanted to continue civilization, but what could he do? His talent stopped here, this was the best plan, following the path Atabia once refused—great extinction, killing most so few could survive, at least civilization could continue.

"I have sinned!"

Unlike the previous two, Herodotus said nothing, but suddenly burst into tears, all disguises liberated, like a pitiful wretch humbled to the extreme.

"Forbidden Fruit, Original Sin, Fallen Paradise."

However, the Holy Dragon prostrated right under the God’s statue, like a pet of God, silently watching him pray before the cathedral’s sacred statue, the response caused Herodotus’s emotions to surge:

"God is observing everything from above, Herodotus, your story has been witnessed by God."